- In each of the five dynastys the founder was a military usurper who seized control by force of arms.
- Then the founding emperor was either murdered by a son or succeeded by a son who was then deposed by the military usurper, sooner or later.
- In this time period of uproar, Chinese thinkers thought to see the disdain of Heaven and even the end of the world.
- The Ten Principalities, none of these Principalities was large enough to do much more than protect them selves against foreign incursions.
- The Chinese cultural tradition continued in the south, although without much vigor or impulse for change.